when israel approached me i was excited and thrilled to meet him as he it is a legend in the african-american world and long been unafraid to speak truth to power but as you may remain on non the award was also given to barber christian who was one of my professors what i was an undergraduate and she was both a brilliant scholar lonesome said teacher that cared about the growth of the students. it it is her legacy that i strive to enact as the new department share netted it is not and has never been just about publishing articles and writing books. added score the work years should be about transformation to transform the critical consciousness, transforming students into thinkers and scholars and to support analysis of race even as the road gets more sophisticated in the name of being post ratio but perhaps the african-american studies department has a responsibility to engage to leverage university resources to make it a more socially conscious place and why i am honored we support this seabed because it places of authors of color epicenter and honors their contributions and how we create s